News & Information on Antique Oriental Rugs and Persian Carpets

Decorating Your Home with Antique Rugs

When you think about upscale interior design, antiques and fine art are naturally the first items that come to mind. Antiques have an undeniable ability to add personality and character to the décor of any home. Because of their uniqueness many people opt to incorporate antiques into their living spaces. Whether it is something handed down through generations or found in an antique shop many homeowners make “antiquing” a hobby in order to add personal flair to their homes.

An antique is an item that is at least 80 – 100 years old and for the most part they are both decorative as well as collectible. An antique item is desired and collected because of its age, beauty, rarity, and use. One type of antique that many people collect for their homes are antique rugs. Funnily enough, many of the antique carpets are comparable and at times even cheaper in price than brand new rugs. Once you establish your budget, size requirements and overall look and feel your quest for the right piece begins!

Antique rugs may be found in many different looks and colors. The more “traditional” style carpets such as Tabriz, Kashan and Khorassan will usually have intricate patterns and can be found in a wide array of colors from the jewel tones to the light and airy. These types of pieces give a regal and elegant look to most rooms. However, modern design tends to be simpler in taste and style. Many of the designs in recent years favor a more minimalistic approach to the interior design. Incorporating antique carpets with subtle colors and a more abstract look (like arts and crafts or art deco) will go a long way and will add a warmth and texture to the space.

Another type of antique carpet that is often used in more modern settings are Moroccan rugs. Moroccan rugs are a fabulous way to invite warmth and create a bright and appealing atmosphere in your home. The simple tribal geometric patterns of these rugs (some of which are taken from the Tattoo designs of the Berber tribes) have been used for some-time to allow a sophisticated look to go with modern furniture. Many historic homes boast these Moroccan rugs such as one of America’s most famous architects of the modern era: Frank Lloyd Wright.

Although, it is more traditional to display your antique carpet on the floor, it can also be displayed on the wall as a work of art (which the antique carpets actually are). In the right lighting you will be able to see the artistry behind these artisanal antique rugs.

A rug tends to be the most expensive item in a room when decorating so it is imperative to get a piece that you will love for a long time. It is also important to purchase the rug from a dealer that you trust. A good dealer will provide you with information, images, and history of the rug as well as give you the option to trade in the rug for a different piece in the future. Be wary of dealers who tell you that the rug will be worth much more in “X” years because there is no way to estimate what any piece will fetch in the future as demands will always change to fit the ever-changing interior design trends. It is best to establish a good relationship with your dealer since down the line you might want to acquire a better piece or might simply want a different look.

So, why buy an antique rug? They clearly allow a very versatile and stylish look for your home decor. With their patina (that can only come with age), texture and their variety of colors and designs, they can liven up any modern, traditional or casual room and make your interior look picturesque and magnificent.

Over the years the trends, patters, and design of interiors have been reinventing themselves every few years but the demand and appreciation for antique rugs has remained. Great antique carpets, just like great paintings will never go out of style and the demand has only increased over the years.

On June 4, The New York Nazmiyal gallery welcomed AIG Private Client Group’s Risk Management Specialists for an educational lecture on new and antique carpets from around the world. Betsy Murphy, our antique carpet specialist, provided insight on carpet classifications and identifiers to help distinguish between fine quality antique carpets and new production carpets.

AIG Private Client Group provides comprehensive insurance products and risk management solutions to successful individuals and families.

One of the great commonplaces of the rug market is the supposed distinction between antique rugs of the sort sought after by collectors and those that appeal to clients who are primarily interested in decorating their homes or offices. This sweeping distinction involves a range of underlying oppositions – the difference between the design traditions used in village or tribal weaving and those used in urban rug production, the difference between small rugs and trappings versus larger or room-sized rugs, a rich and varied palette versus one that is cooler and more limited, and a knowledgeable interest in the rare and esoteric as opposed to a desire for what is simply beautiful or attractive.

Antique rug collectors come off as scholars more or less, endowed to one degree or another with a learned historical perspective. They tend to approach rugs from the vantage of ethnography. They are interested in tribal or regional distinctions and the place of a given piece in a larger development. They want pieces made for local use, which they see as authentic, in opposition to rugs made simply for commercial export. They tend to acquire pieces of scatter size or smaller that typified village and tribal weaving, where larger rugs were less common. Collectors accept and admire the often quirky or wild design sensibility and coloration of tribal and village rugs.

Decorative rug enthusiasts, on the other hand are interested in acquiring ornamental floor coverings that work within a larger, coordinated system or plan of interior furnishing. Consequently, they tend toward rugs that are bigger, whose designs and coloration are more subdued or less obtrusive, and therefore capable of blending in more easily with their surroundings. Since rugs of this size tended to be made in urban-centered workshops, it was the more sophisticated oriental design tradition of the cities that became synonymous with the notion of the decorative rugs and the taste they appeal to. Owners of decorative rugs are also assumed not to be immediately concerned with the historical development or rarity of the pieces they acquire, but primarily with their visual appeal. Continue Reading »

This past week, one of the most outstanding textiles in the Nazmiyal Collection, a splendid antique Kashmir shawl of the eighteenth century, went on display at New York’s Asia Society as part of a special exhibition, “The Arts of Kashmir.” This exhibition represents a major international effort involving loans from collections all over the world. It is the first major exhibition entirely devoted to the arts of Kashmir from late antiquity up to the present time, covering media of every kind. Continue Reading »

Oriental Rugs and carpets have always appeared as just that – a cultural product of the East with all the exotic associations that this conjures up. Initially one thinks of the weavers themselves working over their looms in the cities and towns of Persia or Turkey, and then the journey of the carpets into the commercial emporia or bazaars of such countries. The wonderful late nineteenth-century painting by Jean-Leon Gerome, “The Rug Merchant,” captures this exotic bygone age rather effectively. Even today travelers to Persia and Turkey can still attest to the vitality of the rug markets in places like Tabriz, Konya, Izmir, and, of course, Istanbul. But truth be told, no place in the Middle East can claim to be the center or capital of the international rug market nowadays, at least not in the realm of antique pieces. This title must go to London and even more to New York. The immediate reason for this is the presence there of major International auction houses with highly developed rug departments. Houses of this kind exist in Europe as well, but even they would yield pride of place New York and London if pressed. Continue Reading »

Written by Betsy Murphy
Tuesday, 15 May 2007

The annual meeting of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets is always an exciting event, but when it is held in Istanbul, one of the most exotic and romantic cities in Europe, and a center of carpet production and commerce for the past five hundred years or more, ICOC is simply “carpet heaven.” I stayed in the lovely Sultanahment district, the oldest part of the Ottoman city, where there were a number of related exhibitions. The TIEM (Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi) mounted a spectacular show of early carpets from the Seljuk period, as well as various other oversize court carpets, Ushaks, etc. It was simply divine. The TIEM also put up an amazing selection of Ikats from the collection of Mehmet Cetinkaya. The Vakiflar Museum had two exhibitions of their incredible collection of early rugs as well, one on pile carpets, and one just for kilims. In conjunction with all this the Yildiz Palace held a memorial exhibition of kilims from the personal collection of the renowned expert Josephine Powell, who passed away last March.

Continue Reading »

Written by David Castriota
Wednesday, 03 January 2007

Rugs meant for a business environment will meet different requirements than those for use at home. A rug in a business setting is to some extent an expression of the image that the business seeks to project, so it may require something formal, reserved, or bold and playful; it all depends. But a rug for a place of business will need to stand up to considerable traffic,so it must above all be durable.

Such commercial needs will generally be met by new rugs, but certain types of business, those that seek to project tradition and refinement may require an antique Oriental carpet. Rugs for use at home must reflect the taste of the owner, and in a very profound and personal way, since they provide a constant feature or part of one’s private environment.

But here too, there are practical considerations.I the rug is needed for insulation or to absorb sound, a thicker, perhaps more coarsely woven rug may be required. If it is primarily intended as a home furnishing, a new rug may be the right way to go. If one is a rug enthusiast, it may may be worth the added expense to look for an antique.

Written by David Castriota
Friday, 08 December 2006

One of the the more subjective aspects of judging a rug have to do with assessing its quality and its imperfections. When quality is assessed on the basis of the wool, dyes, and weaving technique, it is a fairly objective process. When the issue turns to drawing style, it becomes more of an issue of taste. The same is true with “imperfections.” Dropped knots, looseness or inconsistencies in tightness are technical imperfections. But are abrash – abrupt changes in color, sudden changes in design, or adjustments in proportion at the corners or the borders or ends of the field to be judged as imperfections, or as changes that are part of the deliberate intention of the weaver, and therefore part of her creative expression?

Some buyers may be put off by such qualities. They may prefer a workshop rug that is perfectly straight, with consistent color and design. But others will appreciate that the personality of the village weaver confronts us every time she inserts a willful twist and turn of color or pattern, or in her struggle to maintain straight proportions in a wool foundation, that that she is in a sense alive in the rug in all such variations or inconsistencies.

Written by Joan Guryan
Friday, 17 November 2006

Focus, or accent?

Is this rug the focal point of my room, or an accent? Do I want you to walk into the room and have your eye go directly to the rug. If this is the criteria, then I am buying the rug, as I would any piece of art. The quality should be fine, and the design should be unique. Your furniture should have good lines, but the fabrics you use can be neutral. When the rug is the focus, you often want to pick it first, before the fabrics.

If I am looking for a rug to bring a room together, give it warmth, enhance the existing furniture then criteria is different. This choice is no less important than the focus rug. In some ways it is the more difficult rug to pick. It must be beautiful, but soft; it must complement, or increase the beauty of the rest of the room. When I buy a rug this way, I bring large enough swatches to put next to the rug. You will usually know which rugs will definitely not work. More likely, you will find several that you think will work. The next step will be to bring them into your home; most fine rug dealers will allow you to do this for you.The quality of the rug must equal to the other furnishings in the room.

Medallion, or open field?

The medallion rug is one with a definite design in the center of the rug; it is the focal point of the rug. An open field rug has an all over pattern in the center of the rug surrounded by a border. If I am looking for a rug that is going to sit under a coffee table or dining table, or a bed, I am not interested in a medallion rug. Why cover up the most important part of the rug? Then I am more interested in an open field rug. But, I want to find one that has a great border, the area that is going to get the most attention.

Any area, where the view of the rug is unobstructed , the choice is yours. It is often a good place to use a rug with a medallion.

Where to use a great runner?

If I have a large room that has multiple purposes, I may use a runner to act as a natural divider. A runner can direct traffic flow between to adjacent rooms. I may use a very narrow runner as a table decoration.

Prayer rug?

I can see using a prayer rug, if it is in good condition, in an entry way. It is a rug that goes in one direction, drawing your guests into your home. If I find one that cannot handle a lot of traffic but is really unique, and the design is very pleasing, I can always find a place on the wall for it.

Written by Joan Guryan
Thursday, 02 November 2006
A rug has many uses, to cover an unpleasant looking floor, to define, a space, to set boundaries in a room. It can be a focus, or bring a room together.

The presence of a rug in a room can be a statement in itself, much like a piece of art on the wall. the choice to own a unique rug with a particular design, or weave says much about a person’s lifestyle, and sense of design.
A rug can be used to warm up a room. It can totally change the mood of a room. Whatever you reason to place a particular rug in a room, you are creating your own unique environment.
Enjoy!!